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Private Residence - Kent

17th November 2012
 

The house itself is believed to have been built in the 1960's and had one previous owner who, upon their death had the premises sold on their behalf by a relative to the current occupier in 2011. Details of the previous owner and some substance of their lifestyle were known to the current occupier. It was also known that the previous owner had lodgers renting a room at the address at some point during their time there.

At the time of the investigation the house was described as a three bedroom split terrace dwelling with an integral garage to the front, kitchen and living/ dining room on the ground floor and three bedrooms and bathroom upstairs.

The house was, at the time of the investigation, owned by a family of four consisting of husband and wife with two children aged 6 and 1. They came to us with a report of a number events occurring in their home that had built to an unnerving situation. Most notably some modernisation and relocation of walls had taken place, and was still being progressed in some areas. A full record of the alleged events is held by Ghost Connections although for the sake of this report a summary appears below:

Cold spots noticed in various locations.
Dark adult sized figures seen in the hallway and descending the stairs.
Dark children figures seen peering around the dining room door frame from the hall.
Dark children sized figures seen on landing area upstairs.
A child's laughter being heard.
Voices heard over baby monitor system.
Children's toys fall down the stairs without anyone near them.
Front and rear doors have opened unexplainedly.
Family dog stares into space.

This was our first investigation at this site and, with so much reported we took the liberty of enjoying the evening with the occupants in their dining room and responding to whatever occurred with the intention of, hopefully, concluding the investigation on the first floor.

Separate arrangements had been made to house the family dog in kennels for the night and both children were at home although established to be asleep before the investigation took place and were monitored throughout the investigation on the monitoring equipment.

 

 

  The Investigation
  Apparatus:

Video camera-
Sony DCR HC-62E with night vision and Sony HVL-IRM IR light

Digital Camera-
Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ-38


Team:

Kim
Graham
Paddy
Dave

Occupants:
Male known as 'S' and female known as 'K'

Method:

Using visual and scientific methods combined with spiritual information investigate the background to any occurring paranormal phenomena at this venue. In order to re-created reported conditions all lights within the house were switched on or off according to the usual evening set up when most events that were reported had occurred.


Investigation:

The investigation can be broken down into three distinct sessions.

Session 1:

The team remained with both adult occupants in the dining / living room in order to see and experience and events from the same viewpoint as the occupants themselves do during the course of an 'ordinary' evening.


Session 2:

Given the events of session 1 the team and occupants relocate to the stairs area and first floor rooms.


Session 3:

Further investigation in third bedroom current known as The Tool Room.

Results
K whilst preparing a cup of tea reports seeing an image of a female and a baby on the flat screen digital baby monitor in the kitchen prior to an image of the bedroom being displayed.

Session 1:

During this session there would be a few noises heard from upstairs.

Dave could smell something he described as similar to cordite or like a fired gun.

Dave reports feeling cold only in an area around his right knee.

Dave reports smelling and antiseptic type smell. This smell would come and go during the session and would also be commented on by other members of the team.

Two taps were heard on the dining room table. Dave was the nearest and was leaning on it at the time.

Dave reported finding it difficult to breath where he was sat. This was something that was agreed by Kim and Paddy.

Graham suggested he could feel his mood changing.

Paddy described a sensation of having been touched on the head by something unseen as if a light finger touch.

S saw a light flash in the hall.

Paddy saw something move around Dave's legs. There was no physical moving item there.

Dave saw a dark shadow movement in the hallway through the doorway to the living room. It could be seen against the curtains of the front door and was described as being about three feet in height.

S commented on seeing a 'black mist' by the living room door.

Session was concluded in favour of having a short break and moving upstairs due to the noises and other reports from that area.

Session 2:

Given the events of session 1 the team and occupants relocate to the stairs area and first floor rooms.


Graham and Paddy went to the 'tool room'.

S and Dave went to the children's playroom.

Kim and K remained on the the stairs.

S reported having difficulty breathing.

There was a rustling noise behind S in the area of the corner of the room.

There was a creak from a solid wooden unit behind S.

S saw the door opposite, leading to the bathroom move slightly, and then saw a dark shape move across the bathroom floor. S chose to move to the bathroom leaving Dave alone in the playroom.

Paddy had the impression of someone standing in the doorway of the 'tool room'.

There was the sound of a squeak in the 'tool room'.

Graham heard a deep exhale and got the impression of seeing a succession of wet footprints across the landing and asked about the door to the bathroom being repositioned to the right of where it used to be.

There were a succession of noises within the 'tool room'.

Dave and S commented on what sounded like a child's voice on the area of the landing.

As Dave was speaking there was a loud groan type noise heard over his voice commented on by Graham and Paddy.

S and Dave heard a noise likened to a human swallowing noise in the bathroom.

A noise was heard towards the stairs.

Dave had the impression that something looks through the banister from the stairs towards the landing. As he mentioned this he saw the area of the bottom hinge on the knewl post where childs stair gate attached illuminate / flash.

K stated they saw something on the stairs around the same time. K and Kim relocated to the living room.

S remarked that the hairs on his right arm were standing on end and a few moments later that it was really cold in front of him. He was, at this time, sat on the floor in the bathroom facing the door.

Graham joined S in the bathroom after seeing a long strip of black for a split second at the bathroom door.

S reported feeling warmer.

Session 3:

Further investigation in third bedroom current known as The Tool Room.

This session was conducted as a séance.

At one point it was noted that Dave and K's hands while connected had risen to make the elbow joint at a 90 deg angle. This was not experienced by either of them. After returning them to the vertical position they would then move again.

Paddy described feeling a pressure on his back as though someone were leaning on him.

Conclusions
The baby monitor unit occurrence is difficult to explain. The device in itself resembled a digital photograph frame that would show a series of images in succession from a stored memory. Its primary use was as a baby monitor and no images were stored on the device. In order to test the reported event and consider if this was a preprogrammed image that is displayed before the system becomes live when first switched on this was tested a number of times. No image was displayed. There seemed to be no feasible way that a still image had been initially displayed on the device prior to the live monitoring camera appearing on the screen. There were no other witnesses to this event and therefore it cannot be explained.

Session 1:

The noises that appeared to originate from upstairs during this session can be quantified as no independent verification of the source was available and they were neither distinct nor repetitive enough to identify.

The pungent smells noted by Dave described as cordite and then antiseptic was initially thought to emanate from the baby chair which had recently been cleaned although a vase of lilies was present only a few feet from Dave and although unnoticed by Dave until really close were apparent to others in the team. It is possible that these were responsible. Lilie's are also known to be particularly heavy with pollen and it is possible that these may also have had an effect on some peoples breathing within the same room.

All windows and doors were firmly closed and there was no discernible draught. The cold sensations noted were not explainable although of interest is the sighting by Paddy of a moving object, unidentified, in the area of Dave's legs during this time. Whilst this may have been a trick of the light it is unlikely due to the lights being on in the living room and therefore it may be thought of as more than coincidental that the two were noticed by two witnesses.

The taps heard on the dining room table could not be reproduced by Dave in any way despite exaggerating his movements whilst remaining to lean on the table. The source has not been identified although an involuntary movement by Dave cannot be ruled out.

The difficulty breathing is interesting. The room was not excessively hot or airless and whilst some of the team were affected some were not. The team members do not all suffer any similar ailments to support the same symptoms.

We have no explanation to Graham commenting about his mood changing. This could be due to any number of reasons including a heightened sense of surroundings or anticipation through to a trepidation of anything yet to be experienced, in his own mind.

There were no persons or objects near to Paddy when he commented on 'being touched'. He described it as the lightest of touches which could be due to anything even movement of his own hairs upon his head. There was no draught in the room and it could not be suggested that this caused it. If the sensation had been more forceful then it may have been possible to reach a more paranormal cause to it however in these circumstances we cannot rule anything out other than obviously visible objects not being responsible.

Lights and shadows in the hallway are difficult to explain. All light sources were accounted for and either on or off and no persons were able to operate any other source unseen. In the same token any moving shadows as described cannot be rationally explained by alternate light sources being mis-interpreted. If not paranormal then they may have been a figment of the imagination due to eyestrain or wanting to see something although for so many of the team to have seen something this is unlikely.

It is coincidental that Paddy believed he saw something moving around Dave's legs at a similar time to Dave reporting a cold draught sensation around them. No-one else sensed a draught and no one else saw the movement although they seem to corroborate each other by closeness in time. Perhaps Paddy did indeed see something unseen by the rest of the team which was also responsible for the coldness occurring in an otherwise comfortably warm room. We may never be sure.

Nothing of note was recorded on the footage for this session.

Session 2:

The difficulty in breathing experienced by S is unexplained. No other team members complained of issues in breathing. It is not possible to directly attribute this to any phenomena but is possibly due to a heightened anticipation given the reported events in this area. This may be a subconscious reaction to the scenario. There is no known previous history of breathing problems.

The rustling noise and creaking came from the very corner of the room and the wooden unit in it. These were not near to S and within full sight of Dave who is certain that S was not able to have, even unawares, caused these noises due to the distance from S that they occurred. The creaking noise was clearly picked up on the footage.

The door opening was not seen by anyone else and cannot be verified, therefore may be a trick of the eye or mind. It may, conversely, have actually occurred. There was no draught in this area and it is not likely to have been caused by any natural phenomena. The pairing of this event with the sighting of a shadow in this area is of interest, particularly as the shadow was seen to move as previously sighted ones have done in this area. S moving to the bathroom to be in this area kept them still within full sight of the team.

An impression of persons standing in or around doorways can be interpreted as a general perception of something unseen when the mind starts to formulate events itself. It cannot be confirmed if this was the case in this circumstance as no one else had actual sight of the door in question.

The source of the squeak noise was not identified and therefore cannot be further explained in any way and neither can the subsequent noises in this room. It was clearly heard on the footage bearing in mind that the camera was placed with a view of the doorway from the other side and not within the room.

Grahams statement about the relocation of the doorway to the bathroom was verified by S and it is of interest that he describes a succession of wet footprints leading from this area after he heard a deep exhale which was confirmed as not being from anyone else. Did Graham experience a number of phenomena combined to suggest someone had walked from the bathroom with wet feet? We cannot confirm or deny this.

Corroboration of the child's voice from both Dave and S reinforces that this may have occurred and is less likely to be the product of one persons imagination. What cannot be ignored, however, is that two children were asleep in a neighbouring room and that one of them may have been responsible. Dave was sat in a doorway between his video camera and the bedroom where the children were and commented that the sound appeared to come from the direction of the stairs and the camera as opposed to the bedroom. From the footage, which records this sound clearly, it could possibly still have been one of the children in their sleep, however it does seem to be close to the camera. The directional microphone on the front of the camera could bely the distance between the sound and the camera and this must be born in mind.

In contrast to the child voice was a distinctive 'groan' heard over Dave talking. Its source is uncertain although less easy to formulate an explanation for.

An agreement on the swallowing noise is likely to mean that something similar was heard. It is difficult to confirm the actual reason and could have been a misinterpretation of another noise.

The noise by the stairs remains unidentified.

It is interesting that Dave described a person looking through the banister at the moment a light occurred in that area. Again no lights were able to be operated in this area unseen by at least some of the team. Either this actually occurred or Dave mistook or imagined it. No explanation is possible for the figure seen as no persons were moving and the area of the stairs was in sight of most of the persons present and no one else reported anything similar until K said that something had been seen on the stairs shortly afterwards.

Sensations of hairs standing on end are akin to feeling cold in some circumstances and it is possible that this is what happened to S. Why S felt cold is unknown although it was observed that, as often the case, the bathroom was colder than other rooms and the landing but not unduly so and S believed it was noticeably colder in one area.

When Graham also entered the bathroom he was inclined to do having seen a black stripe of some sort in the area of the door. This was unseen by anyone else and, similar to other events, cannot be explained by light movements or people moving as nothing of the sort occurred. S would then report feeling warmer. This may be due to two persons now being present and the familiarity of company in such circumstances, the presence of another heat source or purely as it sounded with no further explanation at all.

Three noises were picked up on the footage but not all. No other phenomena was picked up on the footage either visually or audibly although the field of view on the footage was small given the amount of space to operate in. All of the described sightings were outside of the field of view of the camera or in other rooms. Two examples of dust movement causing a 'light anomaly' on the footage under infra red lighting were observed.

Session 3:

Further investigation in third bedroom current known as The Tool Room.

This session was conducted as a séance.

The hand movement experienced cannot be accounted for. Certainly neither party was aware of it happening although this does not mean that by some means one persons hand was able to raise and take another persons with it without noticing, it is unlikely. The footage shows Dave and K's hands raising steadily and very slowly over a period of time that is considered unlikely that intentional movement would be that slow. It remains unexplained.

The pressure Paddy felt on his back is similarly hard to explain. The room was empty other than furniture and decorating equipment and there was nothing close to Paddy. This is verified by the footage. Imagination or a sense of overwhelming or even auto suggestion at others comments of someone being present may account for this.

In conclusion we found little supportive evidence of the events as described initially to us. We did however see similar shadow type movements in similar locations and hear noises, some of which we cannot explain. We cannot discount that the described events prior to our investigation actually happened. The fact that they were not repeated in our presence means that we were unable to investigate possible causes at the times of their occurrence and it is difficult to accurately suggest causes to historical events with any degree of accuracy. We found no evidence of any likely causes to the previously described events whilst at the premises. In fact, those that did occur whilst there were unable to be explained and no sources for creating them were found. There were some interesting events on the investigation some of which could be explained but a great many that were not able to be.

By comparison with the list provided at the beginning of the report:

Cold spots noticed in various locations. - similar was experienced in the living room and bathroom.
Dark adult sized figures seen in the hallway and descending the stairs. - similar was seen.
Dark children figures seen peering around the dining room door frame from the hall - similar was seen.
Dark children sized figures seen on landing area upstairs. - not seen
A child's laughter being heard. - not heard although voice was.
Voices heard over baby monitor system. - not heard although image seen.
Children's toys fall down the stairs without anyone near them. - no object movement seen.
Front and rear doors have opened unexplainedly. - not seen or experienced.
Family dog stares into space. - dog not present for investigation.

Another visit may assist in having a second chance to investigated both those events described to us and those we experienced.

Thanks
During our stay a certain amount of other information was forthcoming to the team of a clairvoyant nature. As Ghost Connections conducts scientifically based investigations we do not publish such observations, however, this information is held on a separate database and may prove interesting when compared to other peoples experiences. Should you wish to discuss this information please email us.

Still photographs and voice recorders were later examined and nothing of note was found other than the sounds described previously.

We would like to thank S and K for contacting us and for their hospitality during our investigation and for their participation in it.

   
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